<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>What A Time by ImagineTheDragon</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27092323">What A Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImagineTheDragon/pseuds/ImagineTheDragon'>ImagineTheDragon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Wouldn't Mind [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Seduce Me (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I have no excuse for this, I'd apologize but I'm not sorry, Nightmares, i just wanted to angst, i probably will do it again</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 03:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27092323</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImagineTheDragon/pseuds/ImagineTheDragon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes... nightmares. That is all</p><p>Set like. A day before the events of Carry You Home</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sam Anderson | Aomaris/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Wouldn't Mind [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What A Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i have no excuses for my actions. much blood ahead.</p><p>title from What A Time by Julia Michaels and Niall Horan</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>I was standing in a grassy field, the stalks of pale green coming up to my mid-thigh rustling in a warm breeze. In front of me, made hazy-blue by the distance, was a range of mountains, reaching into the cloudless sky like snow-dusted teeth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I didn’t recognize them, which didn’t mean much. The Rockies were the only mountains I was familiar with, and even then only from a specific angle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I decided where I was was unimportant and closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of warm dirt, grass, and, faintly, something that smelled like pine trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Abs? You comin’?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I opened my eyes and turned, seeing Sam standing a few feet behind me on the edge of a dirt path I hadn’t noticed. He smiled at me and held out his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Returning his smile, I interlocked our fingers, and we started walking down the trail parallel with the mountains, the softly rustling green grass getting taller on either side of us as we walked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are we going, Sammy?” I asked suddenly. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I was happy to be there with him, but the sense of peace I had been feeling was starting to curdle uneasily in my stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just a walk. You okay doofus?” he asked, tugging us to a stop and giving my hand a squeeze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I looked up at him and worried my lower lip between my teeth. “I think so? I dunno. I feel…” I wrapped my free arm around myself, trying to find the words to describe the unease I was feeling. “I dunno,” I repeated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can go back?” he suggested. I could tell he wasn’t ready to go back to… where would we go back to? My family’s farm? It had to be my family’s farm. Where else </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> we be?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I shook my head. “Nah, it’s okay. It’s probably nothing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He frowned at me, but nodded, giving my hand another squeeze. “Just let me know if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> wanna head back, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I nodded, and we were about to start walking again when the sky suddenly filled with dark grey clouds, and the warm breeze that had been blowing in our face turned icy cold, then died entirely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>My first thought was that clouds had covered the sun… but no, even when it had been blue and bright, it had just been an empty expanse of sky, no sun visible. Hadn’t it? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When I looked up, there was no texture to it, the sky was just… grey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam’s forehead knit in confusion as he looked up as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before either of us could say anything, there was a seemingly sourceless crack of thunder, and ten metres ahead of us the Demon Lord, Sam’s father, appeared in a burst of red light. The long grass blasted flat around him as he caught sight of us and laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I’d only ever seen him in the visions Damien and Sam had shown me, but even so, he seemed… bigger than I’d thought he’d be. His shoulders more broad, his arms more large, and his height was just generally too much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without hesitation, Sam stepped forward, putting himself between me and his father, his hands clenched into half-raised fists, his lips pulled into a snarl. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah yes,” the Demon Lord laughed in a voice that boomed louder than it should have. “My brute son and his whore of a girlfriend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi!” I snapped, the creeping anxiety I’d been feeling getting pushed aside by anger at being called names. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up,” Sam growled simultaneously. The Demon Lord just laughed, a large, spiked black sword appearing in his hand with a flourish. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you going to do, you pathetic waste of skin? Make me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam summoned his own sword, something I’d only seen when I asked him to show me. It was a bright red thing with a big spikey crossguard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I tugged on my magic, pulling so it crackled just beneath my skin as I waited for an opening. Sam was at his fastest, a barely-visible dervish of green and red, but somehow the Demon Lord was keeping up with him, giving as good as he got. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I could barely track their movements, let alone get any sort of hit of my own in, but still, I kept my magic close, waiting for a chance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a clash of metal, they separated, and I braced to take my chance, but Sam was between me and his father as they stared each other down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck do you want you piece of shit? I’ll fucking kill you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Demon Lord laughed, a dark cackle that made something in my stomach go cold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll kill </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” he laughed. “You can’t even protect the one you love!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before I had time to process his words, I heard the sound of grass stalks snapping beneath someone’s feet behind me. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The realization that someone was there was pushed out of my head by an odd, pinching sensation in the middle of my chest. I looked down, and blinked in surprise when I saw the sharp tip of a black sword sticking out from just to the right of my sternum. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s weird. I’d never really thought about getting stabbed in the chest. In general, it wasn’t a concern I had in my day to day life. But if I had spent time thinking about it, I think I would have figured it would hurt more. As it was, it just felt like a pinching tightness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For one moment, a moment that seemed to stretch on endlessly, the only sound was the dripping of my blood from the tip of the sword and wind rustling the long stalks of grass. It was an oppressive silence that seemed to fill the space with an almost physical presence, heavy and thick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then my knees buckled, and the sword slid out of me as my shins connected with the ground, and the terrible silence was broken by the sound of Sam screaming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I don’t know if I passed out for a few seconds, or if I was just too lost in the growing pain in my chest, but the next thing I knew, Sam was holding me cradled in his lap, supporting my head in the crook of his elbow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pain had grown to an almost blinding level, and when I managed to pry open my eyes I saw his tear-streaked face looking down at me with a desperation that made my heart hurt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, don’t cry,” I said. I meant it to be reassuring, but I felt blood pooling and dripping from the corner of my mouth as I spoke. Probably not the most soothing image. “You’ll be okay, Sammy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands ran through my hair, and he shook with sobs that wracked his whole body. “No,” he was murmuring, over and over. “Please. No no no no no.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a shaking hand, I managed to reach up and cup his cheek. My thumb left a streak of blood beneath his eye as I tried to wipe his tears away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t leave me,” he pleaded, tears dripping from his chin and onto the open wound in my chest as he reached up and held my hand to his face, leaning into my touch. “Please, Abby, don’t leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I smiled at him, fighting back a wince as the searing pain in my chest spiked. I didn’t think I had much of a choice on that front. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, Sammy. Don’t forget that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened his mouth to say something, but froze as the long, narrow blade of a sword sprouted from between his ribs. My eyes widened in shock, my pain forgotten as a cold wave of terror followed by a searing wash of rage crashed through me. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Me dying? I was sad about that. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to build a life with Sam, get married, finish my degree, decorate a home. The list went on. But at the end of the day, as long as Sam found a way to be happy, to keep going, that would be okay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now his blood was pooling with mine, soaking into the dirt beneath us.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I didn’t even see who stabbed him, I just-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sat bolt upright in bed, a hand clutched to my chest as tears slid down my cheeks in time with my gasping breaths for air. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I twisted, looking over to see Sam lying there beneath the covers, asleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Panic still clung to my brain like cobwebs, the line between nightmare and reality a blurred mess as I sat there sobbing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It always amazed me how deep of a sleeper Sam was. He didn’t even twitch as sobs shook my body. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not thinking clearly, I yanked the covers back, rolling Sam over so I could run my hands over his bare chest looking for any signs of the stab wound I saw in my dream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, what’s wrong,” Sam asked thickly, rubbing his eyes. He paused when he saw how hard I was crying, gently catching my hands as they desperately searched his torso for injuries. “Abby, hey, hey.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat up, and I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my face into the crook of his neck. Clearly confused and still half asleep, he rubbed my back, making vague soothing sounds as he adjusted me, pulling me over so I was sitting in his lap with my legs around his waist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, you’re okay,” he repeated softly, pressing kisses to my forehead and into my hair. I just dug my fingers into his back, crushing myself more tightly to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually my tears slowed and my breathing started to level out, but I still clung to Sam like I was afraid he was going to disappear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just kept stroking my hair, waiting for me to tell him what was wrong.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually I felt in control of myself enough to pull back a little, looking up at Sam through still-blurry eyes. He reached up and wiped the tears from my cheeks, helping my vision clear slightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I gave one final sniff before pressing my palms to my face for a moment. “Sorry, Sammy. I shouldn’t have bugged you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t apologize for waking me up when you’re upset, Abs,” he said in a softly chiding tone, gently pulling my hands from my face so he could kiss my damp cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again with a sigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- um. Nightmare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bad nightmare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I took another deep breath and hid my face in his neck again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were walking, on my moms’ farm, I think. A farm. There were mountains. Then your father was there, and you fought him.” Sam’s hands paused their stroking on my back at the mention of his father, but he didn’t interrupt, just let me keep talking into his collarbone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t- I was distracted by the fight, and someone snuck up behind me and stabbed me through the chest,” I said quietly. I felt Sam stiffen, his fingers digging into my back protectively. I hurriedly pressed on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you were holding me and it was- bad. But then you got stabbed and I couldn’t do anything and-” I was starting to hyperventilate again, my whole body shaking as I remembered the surprised look on his face as he was run through. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam’s hands were running up and down my back again as I started crying again. “Hey, hey it’s okay. I’m okay, you’re okay, we’re both fine. It was a nightmare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” I choked out, only half-intelligible. “But my dreams can- sometimes they-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your dreams that come true sometimes? Does this feel like one of those?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I paused. That was a good question. I tried to sort it out, but my emotions were running too high and too tangled for me to sort anything other than the panic and horror. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sam’s hands didn’t stop moving on my back. “It’s okay. We can talk about it more in the morning, yeah?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I nodded into his shoulder, focussing again on trying to calm down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, my heartbeat slowed and my breathing evened out, and Sam lay down, pulling me with him so we were both lying on our sides. He pulled the duvet back over both of us and wrapped his arm around me. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I kept my eyes open as long as I could, looking at Sam’s chest, a corner of my mind still worried that the tip of a sword would burst through his skin.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>